Last December I fronted the magazine with the heading “2020 Vision” (ironically), but, despite everything 2020 has brought with it, at least we can close out the year with some of the more positive outcomes from the last few months.
High-rise cultivators Bruce and Fi Robertson discovered their green fingers atop Willoughby House over the summer months and we’ve included lots of their sunny and colourful photos to cheer you up as the chill starts to bite.
We’re lucky that Juliana Lottmann moved in before lockdown because she has enough energy and creative positivity to carry us along with her as she shares her new mindfulness project for a greater sense of togetherness in times of isolation.
Always a magnetic pull is the history of how our Barbican Estate and surroundings have appeared in films and videos. Whenever I’m looking at a video online (habitually on the London Metropolitan Archives website), I have to keep a close eye on the temptation to keep consuming this rich content, or before I realise it the whole day has disappeared. Joanna Lyall digs into some of the major feature films which have used the Barbican as a location.
No Yorkie bars here but Peter Savage still gets to pretend to be a lorry driver and share his cab-life experience in a demonstration run by Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd.’s Community Manager Laura Regan.
Growing up in the Barbican, and now with her own blossoming business, Megan Anstee focuses on meaningful connections in a digital world and shares her top tips on how best to host and enjoy virtual events and festivities when we can’t be together.
With the first online Barbican Association AGM now accomplished, we welcome our new Barbican Association team. Congratulations to Adam Hogg who is our new BA chair and a round of applause for Jane Smith who vacates the seat after more than a decade but continues to share her experience with us a while longer in the role of deputy chair.
We have one restaurant review this issue which we slipped in during the non-lockdown window and thank you to Lawrence for more news on how we can support our locals. Speaking of locals, Resident and owner of Short Eats Melissa Bakth gives us her take on lockdown life and food.
Welcome back to our wine expert Gordon Stuteley who follows up with part 2 of his in-depth discovery on the Wines of Calabria.
Janet Wells’ takes us online again this issue for her quarterly review of the Arts, Gallery and Museum scene, and we welcome back Gary Donaldson who looks forward with optimism to the end of lockdown and live Theatre re-emerging from the remote.
Our new Education section begins with the music, choristers, history and new developments at St Paul’s Cathedral School, and takes a look at Hatching Dragons Nursery based in Ironmongers Hall. I have personal experience of the “surely someone has done this before / recreating the wheel” research involved in selecting schools, and we will follow up on more insights in the upcoming issues. If any of you have insights you would also like to share to help our parents with their school selections, then please email me so we can include your feedback as we go!
Thanks to Neil Andrews for another one of his brilliant London Santa photos and like Mr Claus we are stepping into the light optimistically for a better 2021.
Please Save The Date 20th January when your Ward Members are planning to hold a virtual Ward Surgery via Zoom.
